Homeless man left assault victim lying on ground to go drinking

A homeless man accused of murdering a pensioner told gardaí he left the elderly man he assaulted lying on the ground to go “on the p**s”, the Central Criminal Court heard.

Stephen Byrne (aged 36) has pleaded not guilty to murdering 70-year-old William Traynor in his home on St Francis Terrace, Bow Street on June 17, 2007.

Fire-fighters found Mr Traynor badly beaten that evening, after being called to a small fire in his home. He died from his injuries two days later in Beaumont Hospital.

Detective Garda Frank Tracey told the court that he was interviewing Mr Byrne at Bridewell Garda Station around the time Mr Traynor died.

The accused said he was leaving the house after punching the old man a couple of times, when Mr Traynor grabbed him by the hoodie. The court previously heard he went into the house after Mr Traynor because he had sprayed Mr Byrne with the contents of a fire extinguisher.

“I pushed him and he fell,” he recalled. “I went on the p**s.”

He said that when Mr Traynor fell, he hit his head off something, but he could not see what it was because the room was dark. He said it sounded like a bit of furniture.

Photographs of the room were shown to Mr Traynor which showed a number of gas cylinders and a cast iron bath, but he said he had not seen these. He was in the house for only 10 minutes, he said.

He then described how the old man was lying when he left him.

“His legs were at the door and his head was at the window, on his side,” he said.

When asked if he meant to cause serious injury to the man, he said no.

“He sprayed me. I was pissed with him. I didn’t mean to happen what happened,” he said.

When told previously about how serious the injuries were, he said he did not cause them.

“I’m not that evil,” he told gardaí.

Det. Gda Tracey said he did not tell Mr Byrne about Mr Traynor’s death as soon as he knew because Mr Byrne had become ill.

“It would have been totally inappropriate for me to tell him then, as he was unwell and vomiting and asking to lie down,” he said.

He did not know exactly what Mr Byrne said when he did learn of Mr Traynor’s death, but he later said it was “never meant to happen”.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of seven women and five men.